Quote Originally Posted by cjurakpt View Post
well, yes and no - again, when you want to talk about acquisition of a novel motor skill, you have to look at the factors that are centered on the individual: intrinsic ability to process information, be it visual, auditory and / or kinesthetic is probably the most important (some people's neuromuscular systems are just more adept at motor skill acquisition in general); within that, is the ability of the individual to learn a skill that is relatively similar or dissimilar to what they had done previously: so some people are going to have any easier time doing CLF and learning bagua, some won't, for precisely the reason that the skills are dissimilar; likewise, some CLF people may thrive on the similarities of their CLF branch and another, otheres may be confused by this similarity;

therefore, it's probably more about how a "style" is taught to someone that makes a bigger impact than the actual parameters of a given style: meaning that, if you gave me two different MAists, I will have to adapt the way that I teach them taiji based on what I am able to discern is the manner in which each learns best - personally, I don't care if they have done TKD, bagua or western fencing, I will tap into whatever strengths they have and utilize them - meaning that for someone who is good at lateralizing, I might compare how the taiji is similar to what they have done, so they could draw on their past skill; for others, it might make more sense to contrast how it is different, so that they do not bring in the patterns they used from their old style, which might interfere with the new inormation;

so while I did state before that the specific parameters of a given style might make it easier or harder for a given individual to learn based on their intrinsic ability and past experiences, I don't believe that any two given styles are inherently incompatible: for that to be the case, one would have to demonstrate specifically why this is so and then derive a general principle based on that which would be reproducible
Well said! I can't argue with that!

The only thing I have left to say is that in order to cross train properly then, you probably have to have a teacher as good as yourself who can identify ways to help your secondary style complement your core. Frankly, I'd say that the majority of "cross trainers" who haven't dedicated themselves to one style and simply dabble in anything until they decide that "this is no good" will bother with finding that good teacher or even getting good at anything enough for it to make a difference anyway!

I had to laugh when you commented that "some people's neuromuscular systems are just more adept at motor skill acquisition in general"... it's funny cuz it's true...